So what was that? Had I attained Moksha (inlitment)? What was that light after all? ...But that voice... no, this is not Moksha.
He remembers the voice he heard while losing consciousness. "This brutal method was used to revive the host. And the voice's name was Disha."
He says, "Disha!"
As soon as he says this, a white window opens in front of his eyes. Seeing this, he almost wakes up from his incomplete sleep.
He was startled and looked like a tormented ghost.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he was astonished. He was still in the hospital.
He had thought that he was alive, but seeing this, he couldn't believe his eyes. How was this even possible?
Beside him stood a nurse, who was looking at him and saying something on the phone to someone.
Meanwhile, Som Khurana receives a call from the hospital. He reaches the hospital within no time. As soon as he opens the door of the room, his happiness could be clearly seen on his face. Behind him stood a woman and a girl. Dev recognizes them upon seeing them - this is Som Uncle's wife and their daughter.
Som Khurana didn't really seem like Dev's blood uncle; he was a distant uncle. He was his father's friend, which is why Dev used to call him uncle.
Seeing their daughter, he says to himself, "Is this the same one who used to roam around wearing that pink hairband with the rabbit as a child? ...Then me and now me... a lot of difference. She must be only 17 now, but she looks more mature and beautiful than any normal person. ...But hey, my father once told me that my marriage was fixed with someone in childhood, so I shouldn't be thinking all these things about this."
Simran Khurana, of medium-tall height, in blue pants and a red kurta, with long thick hair, slightly thin lips and medium eyes, a long nose, a fair and rosy complexion, looked completely beautiful.
Well, Som Khurana comes near Dev and holding his hands, Som Khurana speaks.
Dev! You are alive and well? I just can't believe it.
Som Khurana says,
I thought you couldn't survive the attack of those monsters. But when I saw you in the condition you were in... it's a wonder that you look completely fine.
Dev says,
Tell me exactly what happened to me when I lost consciousness.
Som Khurana, looking at Dev, begins to tell him about the events of that night.
Som Khurana says,
When that monster threw you down from outside, I had grabbed a piece of cloth that was lying around and jumped down too. God was with me, and I survived with just a few injuries, crashing into a tree.
But when I got down, I witnessed a strange incident. I saw a terrifying scene about one to one and a half kilometers away from me, where a bolt of lightning struck a hillock with a very terrible roar from the sky.
The pressure from that lightning was so immense that I couldn't steady myself and fell unconscious right there. When I opened my eyes in the afternoon, I went to see where that lightning had struck.
I thought that the place where you fell was also in that direction, the way that monster had thrown you. I had seen that monster, whose hands and legs were made of iron, had thrown you from outside in this very direction, where that lightning struck. On the way, I also found many half-dead animals.
And when I reached the place where you were, I saw that something like a very large meteor-like object had formed, where that hillock used to be. And in the middle of that crater, on top of a rock, I found you lying unconscious.
As Dev kept listening to Som Khurana's words, he began to remember glimpses of that terrible pain from that day. As soon as he remembered what had happened to him, he became restless.
He quickly picked up the glass of water kept nearby and drank it in sips. He did not want that same incident to ever happen to him again.
He asks Som Khurana,
Dev says,
Uncle, what day is it today?
Som Khurana says,
It has been one month since you lost consciousness.
Hearing this, Dev could not stay any longer and tried to get up from the bed and leave. Som Khurana asks him, where are you going now?
Dev Khurana says,
I am not going to leave those people. I will save my father from all of them.
Som Khurana says,
Wait! Can you fight all of them like this? Have you seen who they are? Can you even stand before them for a little while?
Dev says,
Just give me access to your car. I will go to the Khurana family residence and ask them to save my father.
Hearing Dev's words, Som Khurana thinks for a while in his mind and then says to Dev,
You are right.
I obtained the CCTV footage from that night, and in it there were some people who were masked. And upon investigating, I found out that they could be Cultivators.
The recent incidents and those people turning into demons,
all point in one direction: that in this world, there actually exist Cultivators who practice and refine powers. And all over India, there are 6 to 9 major families and hundreds of smaller families.
So it's just impossible that the fifth-largest family in all of India, the Khurana family, if they do not Cultivate, it's unacceptable that such a big family survives in this world of Cultivation without any powers. Now that you have mentioned this, I am also understanding. Now we will have to talk to the Head Manager of the Khurana family itself.
Dev says,
Why the Head Manager specifically? Why can't we talk to the head of the family?
Som Khurana says,
We are getting a chance to talk to the Head Manager; you should be very happy with this,
because earlier I used to think that the Khurana family was somewhat mentally disturbed. The side families of the family, those who are not directly related by blood to the Khurana family,
they reside only at the lower levels of this family.
They have told the side families only one way to get added to the main family: after testing their blood, they might get a chance from the family to rise within the family and become upper-level people of the family.
But I used to take all these things as a joke before. But now I understand, perhaps the Khurana family is carrying forward the bloodline of some mythological, enlightened, liberated person, or powerful being.
Dev is a bit surprised to hear this.
Dev says,
Are we really descendants of some demigod?
Som Khurana says,
We don't have the right to meet the upper-level people of the family because our blood is perhaps not of the level they require.
Our ancestors probably married some outsider, which is why their children were placed in the side family, who rank lower than the main family.
Dev thinks for a while, then says,
If that's the case, then we should meet the family manager himself.
Som Khurana says,
Alright then, you get well first. We will go there tomorrow evening.
Saying this, Som Khurana gets Dev discharged from the hospital and takes him to his home. Dev takes out his mobile from his clothes pocket; he sees that the mobile screen is broken.
He says,
Som Uncle, please wait a moment.
Stopping the car there, he says,
You all go ahead, I will come to your house in a little while today.
Som Khurana says,
Okay, take care of yourself.
Saying this, he moves on.
When Dev heads towards the mobile shop, he quickly ducks into a lane, looks around, and quickly calls out,
Dev says,
Disha!
As soon as he says this, a system panel appears before his eyes. He is thinking to himself, can any other people also see this? The system's AI, reading his mind, says,
System (AI) voice.
No, you can relax. No person who does not have a system can ever see your panel.
He relaxes. He looks at the system panel in front of his eyes, and in it, he sees his information:
Name: Dev Khurana
Age: 18 years
Physical Rank: Currently Normal Human (without any powers). The lowest category of Cultivation.
Dev says,
Is this my introduction? It says I am a 'Normal Human'. So, are most people living in this world very weak according to this system? Then what is the higher category according to this? And is there any category above that?
A voice comes from the system, which is the AI itself.
System voice.
As you keep increasing your power, you will find out for yourself.